Breech-loading fire-arm



C. W. SYN'EIDER. Y Breeoh-Loading Pire-Arm.

Patented M ay 4,1880.

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f UNITED vSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. SNEIDER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Buenos-Lomme FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,135, dated May" 4, 1880.

Y Application filed January 21 18H0. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, CHARLES W. SNEIDER, ot' Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Arms; and I hereby declare the same to be fully, clearly, and exactly described as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of that part ol' a lire-arm to which my invention relates; Fig. 2, a similar view ofthe lock detached; Fig. 3, a sectional view of the breech-pin and barrel, illustrating the cooking mechanism; and Fig. 4 is a central sectional view, showing the mechanism for locking the lever and scar.

My invention relates, in particular, to what are generally knownas hammerless gnns,7 in which the striker is located on the inside of the lock-plate; and it consists in certain mechanism for cockin g the weapon, in the construction of the lock, and in the safety-catch for preventing the accidental discharge of the weapon, the parts being constructed and operating substantially -as hereinafter set lforth.

Considered as a sporting weapon, the socalled haminerless gun 7 possesses certain indu-bitable advantages over the ordinary gun in point of immunity from danger of accidental discharge by the catching of the han mers in' underbrush or the clothing of the user, which have led to its rapid growth in general favor. To theseadvantages may be added the minor ones arising from the entire concealment of the hammers and tiring-pins,

3S and the there-by diminished liability of, or,

indeed, entire immunity from, danger or' access of water to the working parts of the locks and pins. These advantages have, however,

heretofore been in a great measure offset by the fact that the gun, beingialways, when in use, at full-cock, was liable to be discharged by careless handling, and the safety-catches used to prevent this were inefficient and clumsy, and in that class oi' hammerless guns in which the cooking is eiected other than bythe dropping of the barrels the "ser could not readily tell whether his gun was cocked or not.

l have devised a weapon which when loaded is certain to be 'ulLcocked, and have provided it with a simple and convenient safety-catch that positively locks the scar in engagement with the striker-bolt. This catch is so constructed as to render it evident at a 'glance that the catch is in engagement with thetsear or not, aud--a most important point-fthe catch is released'by the natural movement of the thumb in cooking au ordinary gun.

In the accompanying drawings, Aare the barrels, pivoted at a to the breech-piece B. Longitudinally through the latter, under each barrel, (or, if the piece be single, then cen.- trally,) is bored a hole extendingiuto the lockcavity b, within which hole a bar, g, carrying at its forward end a roller, Q, slides freely.

The fore end, r, is provided in iront of the bars q with cam-faces p, so arranged that as the barrels are tilted they act upon the rollers Q and repressV thembars q.

The lower edge, P, of the fore endlits snugly against the front of the breech-piece, as shown.

The lock is shown in` detail iii-Fig. 2, iu which G is the lock-plate, ot' the usual shape, and secured to the piece in the usual way.

To the plate is pivoted, at j', a hammer or striker, F, -that passes through a bar, D, slotted for the purpose. A pivot, g, passes through the bar or bolt D and through a hole in the striker, which latter hole is somewhat elongated, as shown in dotted lines, to admit of the bolt D moving in a right line while the hammer moves in the arc of a circle. The bo'l't passes freely through lugs c c, secured to or integral with the lock-plate,and around it is coiled a spiral mainspriu g, e, which is compressed between the rear lug and a nut, E, near the front end ofthe bolt, which is threaded, as shown atd. The object ot" this is to aiiord facility for increasing the tension of the mainspring as occasion requires.

The rear end. of the bolt D has a notch or catch, f', which engages with a similar catch or notch, h, on the front end of the sear H as the bolt is repressed.

The sear is provided with the usual lateral extension t" and spring I.

. J is the housing, within which the trigger L is pivoted. y

A lug, G, is secured to the lock-plate, as shown, and is designed to receive the blow ot' the hammer, should the same be snapped when the gun is empty, as otherwise the ring-pin would'be liable to become jammed or its'spiin g- IOO to be broken. The lug is so situated, however, as not to interfere with the delivery of the blow of the hammer on thei'ing-pin G', and to admit of the latter being depressed far enough to insure the-explosion of the cartridge-cap.

The safety-catch consists of a bar, N, sliding vertically ,through the top strap in the grasp and adapted to lbear upon the lateral pieces i of both sears H when it is depressed. The catch is normallylifted out of engagement with the sears by means of a spring, m, but is depressed, when desired, by means of a cam, o, having a serrated thumb-piece, as shown.

In case the piece be a top lever 7 breech-l loader, (if not, it ought to be,) this calm is pivoted in the end of the lever O, whereby the lever and locks are secured by one and the same catch as the latter is tilted forward. lf the gun be other than a top-lever, the catch is pivoted. in t-he strap. i

The operation of the partsis as follows: As the barrels are caused to drop down, the camfaees p, acting on the rollers Q in the ends of the rods q, repress the latter within the breechpiece B. The inner ends of the rods or bars q bear on the ends of the bolts D and force them back, causing the catches f to engage with the scar-catchesh, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, and tilting the hammers to the position therein shown, both' barrels heilig thereby' full-cocked. As the triggers L are retracted the sears are drawn out of engagement with the bolts D, when thesprings e, re-` acting against the lugs c and nuts E, cause the bolts to ily forward,`carrying with them the hammers, which strike the firing-pins Gr.

To lock the sears in engagement with the bolts D the cam o is tilted forward, bringing its serrated portion uppermost, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, whereby the bar N is depressed upon the pieces 'i i of the sears. To release the locks thecam is simply tilted back,

las in cocking an ordinary gun, the motion gagement with the hammer itself or with the f end of the bolt D just in front of it, while the mainspring is transferred to the rearofthe hammer.

It will be noticed that the described construction of parts admits of the ready and convenient alteration of an ordinary breech-loader into a hammerless gun it Ibein g only necessaryv tao-pierce the breech-piece for the bars q, sup ply them and the cam-faces p, and attach the hammer and bolt to the inside of the lock,

and, further.w that this has been effected by means of a push-rod repressed by a cam at the barrel-p1 vot and against the hammer, such construction being shown in Letters' Patent No. 47 ,755, granted to Charles E. Sneider, May 16, 1865; but I do not know nor believe that the following has ever before been known or used, and

I therefore claim- LIn a drop-down gun, a fore end carrying a cam-face, arranged, as described, to actuate asliding bar beneath the barrel, which'said bar encounters the striker-bolt and represses it into engagement with the sear, as set forth 2. Ina breecl1loading gun, a reciprocating bar, N, located in the top strap of the frame, in combination with a pivoted cam above the bar, the whole so arranged relatively to the sear that the tilting of the 'cam depresses the bar uponvthe scar and locks the latter, as set forth.

3. y'In a top lever breech loader, a safety catch consisting of a pivoted cam llocated in the lever, and adapted at once to llock the sear and lever by means of mechanism substantially as set forth.

4. In a top-lever breech-loader, a safetycatch pivoted within the top lever, and arranged, as described, to enter a slot in the strap and depress a bar into engagement with the scar, substantially as set forth.

5. In-a breech-loader, a bar reciprocating vertically' through the strap andnpon the scar, the same being normally lifted by means of a spring, and depressed by means of apivoted cam, asset forth.

6. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the cam-face p, secured to the fore end, and rod q, having roller Q, with the bolt D, lying ina rightline with the rod q and aetnating the hammer, as described.

7. In combination with the rod D and scar H, the bar N, spring m, and cam o, carried by the lever, as set forth.

Witness my hand this 16th day of January, 1880.

' GHAS. W. SNEIDER.

z` :Witnesses: i

R. D. WILLIAMS,

JNO. T. MADDoX.

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